Chandigarh: Punjab housing and urban development minister Hardeep Singh Mundian on Thursday alleged that Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials pressured his family to tell him to quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and join another party during a raid at the house of his nephew, Gurpreet Singh Saini, in Ludhiana.

Mundian questioned whether the action was an investigation or an attempt to exert political coercion.

“The BJP is trying to fight elections through fear after failing to generate public enthusiasm. Punjabis cannot be intimidated by ED raids or threats,” he said at a press conference.

The ED conducted searches at the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) headquarters in Mohali and at several residences in Chandigarh and Ludhiana regarding alleged irregularities in land deals and the grant of change of land use (CLU) certificates.

Questioning the raid at his nephew’s house at Sahnewal in Ludhiana, Mundian alleged that a widow and her young daughter were harassed during the search, which lasted from 11am to 3pm.“When the officials were leaving, the family asked for a written record of what had been recovered. The officials provided a document stating that nothing was found apart from old household articles. If nothing was recovered, why was the family harassed for three to four hours?” he asked.

Mundian also dismissed BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu’s claim that he had fled Punjab for the United States, asking whether Bittu had opened a “travel agency” to send Punjab leaders abroad. “I am holding this press conference in Chandigarh, not America,” Mundian said, noting that Bittu had been falsely claiming since Wednesday that he was out of the country.